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Mike CoppingerESPN
Rolando Romero is on the verge of being pulled from his Dec. 5 fight with Gervonta Davis, multiple sources told ESPN on Saturday.
On Thursday, a woman posted on Twitter accusing Romero, 26, of sexual assault. She did not say when the alleged incident occurred, but tweeted Friday that she filed a police report.
A spokesperson for the Henderson (Nevada) Police Department told ESPN that it received an incident report on Friday involving Romero and provided a date of birth that matched the boxer’s. The spokesperson said there is an open investigation connected to the alleged incident.
A spokesperson for Showtime, which is set to televise the Davis-Romero pay-per-view, declined to comment.
The front-runner to replace Romero in the Davis fight is Isaac Cruz, multiple sources told ESPN. Cruz, a 23-year-old Mexican, was considered for the Davis assignment before Romero was ultimately chosen.
Cruz (22-1-1, 15 KOs) defeated former champion Francisco Vargas in June. He was No. 24 on ESPN’s ranking of the top 25 boxers under 25.
Romero (14-0, 12 KOs) scored a seventh-round TKO of Anthony Yigit in July. The Las Vegas native is slated to earn a career-high payday in his first major fight.
Davis (25-0, 24 KOs), a former junior lightweight titleholder, is one of the sport’s biggest attractions and is ranked No. 4 at both lightweight and junior welterweight. His last two fights have headlined Showtime PPVs.